Consul to talk with Mexican nationals
Posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2007
ROGERS — Arkansas’ Mexican consul will pay a visit to Rogers today to discuss needs of residents and explain how the consulate, which will open soon in Little Rock, can benefit individuals and businesses in northwest Arkansas.
Andres Chao, Mexican consul, will hold a discussion with area Mexican nationals and community leaders at 5: 30 p. m. in the Rogers Activity Center.
“ He wants to see the issues in our community that he can start addressing, ” said Javier Ortiz, board member for the Rogers Community Support Center.
The consulate will provide services to Mexican nationals and act as a liaison between U. S. and Mexican businesses, Ortiz said.
The consulate will offer official Mexican government-issued identification cards, called matricula consular; passports; birth certificates; and other government documents to Mexican nationals.
In August 2004, former Gov. Mike Huckabee announced plans for a Mexican consulate in Little Rock, creating the first and only office representing a foreign country in the state. When open, the office will serve the mid-South, mainly Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Ortiz was a part of a group that lobbied to have the consulate located in northwest Arkansas, attributing the need to the area’s rapidly growing population of Hispanic people, a good portion of which are Mexican nationals.
U. S. census figures show quick growth in northwest Arkansas’ Hispanic population. Benton County’s Hispanic population grew more than 75 percent between 2001 and 2005, rising from 13, 469 to 23, 876. In Arkansas, rates of growth in the Hispanic population dwarfed general growth rates. Hispanic population figures grew by nearly 50 percent, while the whole population grew less than 2 percent.
The Little Rock location was eventually selected for its ability to reach residents of other Southern states.
This is Chao’s third visit to the area. In the past, he has met with community and business leaders to establish an understanding of needs in the area, Ortiz said.
Ortiz hopes the consulate will go beyond assisting individuals by enhancing cultural understanding between the two countries.
“ It’s not only to serve Mexican nationals, ” he said. “ It promotes the country. ”
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